Rifkin's Festival is a new creation by Woody Allen

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Woody Allen's new painting "Rifkin Festival" (Russian premiere date - December 31, 2020) has a special atmosphere. A whole team of professionals was involved in filming and working on the film. We have interesting facts about the creation of the picture and the direct speech of its creators, including the creator Allen himself.

About working on the ribbon

Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who is already working with Allen on the fourth film, has repeatedly experimented with combining two contrasting shooting styles in one film. In High Life, Storaro contrasted vintage Hollywood with the life of New York nightclubs, and in Wheel of Wonders, the dilapidated apartment in which the characters live is replaced by the flashy colors of Coney Island. In the film Festival of the Rifkin, Storaro filmed the exteriors of the festival and San Sebastian himself in color, and Mort's personal life in black and white.

“Most people dream of color, but Mort is too fond of black and white cinema and associates himself with its characters. Therefore, I think that he has black and white dreams, - explains the operator. "If you think about it, black and white photography develops the imagination much better, since black and white images do not exist in nature."

Storaro has written several books on the symbolism of color and has not shot in black and white from the very beginning of his career.

“If Woody or some other director offered me to make a black and white film, I would have refused,” the cameraman admits. - Imagine: you can play the piano, you know all the notes, but here … I don’t want to go back to the time when I knew only three colors: black, white and gray. However, in the film "The Rifkin Festival" part is shot in color, part - in black and white. This gave me the opportunity to conduct a visual dialogue with the viewer."

Production designer Alain Baine (Vicky and Cristina Barcelona) and costume designer Sonia Grande (Midnight in Paris) have long been friends and have worked together.

“We understand each other very well and work very well,” says Beine. “Considering Vittorio Storaro's shooting style, we paid special attention to ensuring that the colors of the costumes created by Sonia match the designs that I am developing.”

The presence of black-and-white scenes in the film posed additional difficulties for the designers.

“We agreed that since the film is partially filmed in black and white, it is extremely important to emphasize the color in other scenes,” says Grande. "This way we would not only separate dreams from reality, but also set the visual rhythm for the entire film."

Baine and Grande set out to recreate the San Sebastian Film Festival as meticulously as possible to make the comedy and Allen-created characters more believable. The film was shot exactly where the festival is held: at the Kursaal Congress Center and at the Victoria Cinema. However, the logo of the festival was somewhat modified, and all the posters had to be invented and drawn from scratch.

“It was interesting to strive for realism while working,” Beine recalls. Grande, in turn, paid maximum attention to accessories and details of the actors' clothes: “The perfection of the background in every shot plays a special role for me. I am literally obsessed with little things when it comes to wardrobe. Every detail is important for the realism of the character and the overall atmosphere of the film."

Love for cinema helped Mort to form his own gradation of values in life. His attitude was dictated by films, especially the masterpieces of such masters of the 50s and 60s of the last century as Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and others.

“In the 50s and 60s, everyone was obsessed with finding meaning in life,” says Shawn. - Bergman asked this question, "La Dolce Vita" by Fellini also touches on this topic. I think, looking at these pictures, Mort felt that it played an important role in his life."

Asking these questions, Mort is attracted to the churches, although by nature he is an agnostic, raised in a Jewish family.

“Something attracts him,” explains Shawn. "Perhaps in the churches that have played such an important role in his favorite films, Mort will be able to clarify something for himself."

According to Allen, Mort would like to believe in God:

“Religion, God, the meaning of life - these questions do not leave Mort's mind. That is why he does not attach much importance to filmmakers like Philip, who make a film on a political topic or a military epic, although all these topics are, of course, important. In the film, Mort says that even if we live in an ideal world, there will still be many unanswered questions that will torment and frighten people."

Mort learned about love and romance from such French films as "Jules and Jim" by Francois Truffaut and "In the Last Breath" by Jean-Luc Godard.

“For Jules and Jim, love was the most important part of human life,” says Shawn. "I think French cinema has greatly influenced how seriously Mort takes this issue, and my hero defends his position very jealously."

Allen believes that European filmmakers at the time were far more advanced in showing love scenes than their overseas counterparts.

“European actors are more relaxed,” says the director. - Hollywood believed that a married couple should not sleep in the same bed, and the Europeans laughed at us. After European cinema had its impact on American cinema, directors from the United States began to shoot films in which men and women fell asleep side by side, and the ending was not always a Hollywood happy ending."

Whatever Mort thinks about, be it life difficulties, a crumbling marriage or warm feelings for Joe, he always views the situation through the prism of classic films.

“Mort is one of those people who like to dream, because watching films can also be compared to daydreaming,” says Anaya. - I think we all dream about what we want to get, how we want to live and what we want to feel. Mort uses movies for this."

In his reflections, Mort sometimes falls out of reality.

“There are absolutely fantastic situations,” says Shawn. - At the same time, Mort always behaves very naturally, although most of us would hardly be able to restrain ourselves if such incredible situations happened in real life. Mort always remains himself. He just can't be what he really isn't, because he doesn't know how to pretend."

Rifkin's Festival (2020) begins in a psychologist's office and is built like Mort's story about his past. The hero remembers not only about the trip to the film festival, but also about his whole life. Mort tells stories about his parents, relationships with women, marriage and trying to find meaning in life. In a sense, the director makes the viewer a psychologist, listening to Mort and trying to piece together a puzzle to understand why Mort is unhappy at the beginning of the film, and if he has any hope.

“When Mort meets Jo, she gives him a new purpose in life,” says Shawn. - He seems to wake up and begin to recuperate. Mort no longer hoped that even a drop of passion remained in him. But, as it turns out, she stayed."

The world premiere of Rifkin Festival (2020) took place at the San Sebastian International Film Festival on September 18, 2020. It was released in Spain on October 2 by Tripictures and will premiere in Russia on December 31, 2020.